1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to manufacturing and in particular to a method and apparatus for manufacturing products. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for aligning components for assembly in manufacturing products.
2. Background
Manufacturing involves using tools and a processing medium for transforming raw materials into finished goods. With respect to the manufacturing of aircraft, components and structures, such as engines, fuselages, wings, hydraulics, and electronic systems are produced and assembled to form an aircraft. A flap is a component that is installed onto the wing when assembling the wing of an aircraft. A flap is a hinged surface on the trailing, leading edge of the wing of a fixed wing aircraft, which may be used to change the coefficient and drag of the wing.
When installing a flap onto a wing, the flap is installed onto support structures. These support structures may have mounting points with channels or bushings in which portions of the flap are placed to hold the flap in place in the wing and to allow the flap to rotate. These mounting points for a flap are manufactured such that the installation points are aligned with each other. In some cases, adjustments may be made to the alignment during installation of the flaps.
Depending on the particular design and specifications, the tolerance in alignment between the center points of each mounting point for a flap may be very small. For example, 5/1000ths of an inch tolerance may be required between the two mounting points. Alignment of these mounting points may be challenging because of the distance between these points. A distance of twenty feet between the mounting points is not uncommon.
Tools currently used for aligning components include, for example, a laser system. A laser transmitter may be placed at one mounting point and a laser receiver may be placed at the other mounting point. The readout from the laser receiver may indicate the alignment between center points of the two mounting points for the flap. With currently available tools, mounting the laser system at the mounting points may be challenging and typically require two or more persons to setup and perform the alignment procedure.